Ewer, cast and engraved bronze

Eastern Iran or Afghanistan; end of 11th-12th century
H: 30.5 cm

This piece belongs to a little group of distinctively shaped ewers, several of which have been excavated in Afghanistan. All have a spherical body, a thick neck, and a wide, conical spout that in this case ends in a lion’s head whose openings emitted a liquid in several thin jets.

This ewer furthermore has a bird sitting on the handle where most ewers have an abstractly shaped knob to support the hand when pouring.

No ewer of this type has been preserved with a lid, but it has been proposed that these ewers originally had a lid attached with chains to the metal rings on the neck.